The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-10-15
MURPHY's STRANGE TRIP.
Hs Walks Down Worth Street and
Finds Himself in New Orleans.
From the Ne,o York Sun.

a
Finds Himself in New Orleans.
From the Ne,o York Sun.
Joseph 8. Murphy, young Yorkville
ssloon-keeper, disappeared from his home,
g14 East Seventy seventh street, on Sept. 50.
A fte,. he had been missing for several days
his friends visited the morgue aud left a
photograph of him. 1t represented Murphy
as n supple young man in bathing suit.
Assistant Keeper Joe Fogarty took down
NulDhv's description as % years old, ) feet
+ inches tail, sandy moustache and light
brown hair. Other photographs Of Murphy
we're distributed at the morgueS at Bay
Ridge. Brooklyn, Long Island City, White
friends expected that his body would be
welded up by the water, for the reason that
he went in swimming a good deal, often
making a long expedition in the water.
The other day Murphy surprised Joe
FocaYty by walking into the morgpe and
asking for his photograph. The explanation
Murphy gave for his absence is a curious
story best told by Murphy himself:
"On Tuesday, Sept 30, u he said yesterday,
81 left my saloon, at Second avenue and
Seventy-seventh stree, a few doors from
nv house, and called at the Board of Excise
10 see about having my license renewed.
made an appointment with the clerk, who
lives up my way, to meet him at my saloon
at q o'clock that evening and give bond
there AT about , p. IN. | was standing on
the northwest corner of Broadway and
Leonard street thinking about whether
would avail myself that afternoon of an
invitation | had in my pocket from
the Henderson Brothers to inspect the This
tle While | stood there an empty truck,
drawn by two horses, rounded the curb into
Leonard street. | stood so close to the curb
that an iron rung that sat loosely in the tail
end of the truck, and pointed outward, hit
me on the left side of the forehead as the
truck wheeled by. The blow somewhat
stunned me, and l fell over against a young
woman who was waiting to cross the street
] felt some pain in my head, but was not
much annoyed by the hurt. | walked down
Broadway to Worth street, and stopped
there awhile to talk about the accident to
my friend Joe O'roole, who straps packages
for Tefft, Weller & Co. We crossed over
to the northeast corner of Broadway and
Worth street and had drinks in there
took a whisky 1t was the second
drink / had taken that day
both whiskeys. But / did not feel the
effect of the liquor in the slightest. After
leaving O'Toole | walked east in Worth
street. think it was then about D. m
remember arriving at Baxter street, but
here lost all track of myself. What hap
pened to ME during five days is blank
woke up on the evening of Oct 4 and found
myself in the City Hospital in New Or
leans. l began to talk, but my male nurse
made me keep quiet. | soon fell asleep
again, and woke up the next morning feel
ing that my head was freezing. found
that ice was packed around my head That
day l began to feel like myself, and was
told that | was well enough to leave the
hospital. They said l had been sent to them
from police court, where | had been
arraigned for drunkenness, but the
Judge had said that | was not intoxi-
Gated, but appeared to be drugged, and
needed medical treatment. My hip was
bruised, and | had a faint recollection of
being dubbed by a policeman. l had left
home with S1S7, but there was not cent in
my clothing. My ring was not on my finger
The single article in my pocket was a key
ring. told my story to the hospital au-
thorities, but they seemed to discredit it,
suppose because | looked so shabby They
told me that | had been sick with conges-
ton of the brain. | made my way to the
docks and looked for a chance to work my
passage to New York on steamer None
would sail for two days, and as | was with
out cent [ could not afford to wait l got
a chance to unload freight from river boat
going to st. Louis, and sailed that night
My fellow worllmen were four negroes. /
had put myself on their level, and they
tried to put me lower still. At Arkansas
City they tried to kill me by dropping box
on me, but was took quick for them We
were five days making the trip. At St
Louis l was paid $40 The negroes got $40
each. broke my $40 bill buying postage
stamp, with which l mailed to my wife a
letter | had written ON the boat. Then |
went to hotel. That night | was taken
sick. My head was dizzy, and the bard
ships of the voyage had used me up. In a
few days / had letter from my wife 1t
contained both good and bad news. 1t said
we had a baby, and that my saloon had
been sold out to satisfy a creditor, whom l
owed $S1. | was pretty sick in St Louis,
but on Sept 10 felt we'll enough to leave
The motion of the cars made havoc
to return very slowly, making stops at
Weedsport, Cincinnati, Buffalo, Cairo, and
Transport. l arrived home week ago
last Thursday. l am better now, but still
feel occasionally ringing sound in my
head where / was struck by the rung. Now
and then the bones seem to click together
My physician, Dr. Robert F. Chapman of
East One Hundred and Sixteenth street, is
giving me medicine, and he says that when
! get cured | will recollect all of my adven-
ture, He explains that the blow received
caused blood to CONCEAL in my head, and |
did the thing that was on my
mind at the moment. He thinks
that at the moment | lost conscious
ness New Orleans was either in my thoughts
or | saw New Orleans displayed on a
sign board at which l happened to be look